Ashes Cricket 2009

Download Ashes Cricket 2009 and step onto the pitch in this realistic cricket simulation! Take control of your favorite team, compete in iconic venues, and experience the thrill of the Ashes series. Are you ready to become a cricket legend? Play now!
a game by Transmission Games
Platforms: XBox 360, Wii, PC (2009), Playstation 3
Editor Rating: 7/10, based on 3 reviews
User Rating: 7.9/10 - 36 votes
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See also: Sport Games, Games like FIFA 23, Cricket Games
Ashes Cricket 2009
Ashes Cricket 2009
Ashes Cricket 2009

Ashes Cricket 2009 is a cricket videogame focused on The Ashes test cricket series. Other teams and game modes are included to make the game more diverse and interesting.

Gameplay

The Australian and English cricket teams are licensed while others are not licensed. So, other countries use generic names. But you can use the game edit feature to edit players to your taste. Two player co-op mode is available. You and your co-op player can trade strikes and bowls, thus building a formidable partnership to take on the game’s AI. Ashes Cricket 2009 is best enjoyed when you are playing offline multiplayer against others. This way, you don’t get frustrated by the game’s unpredictable AI.

Online multiplayer is also available. In the online multiplayer, you play ranked and friendly matches under various formats. You might have problems finding players online, but when you do so, you will enjoy the game. There main mode is the Ashes game mode consisting of 5 test matches between the two main countries taking place over 5 days. There is a test play mode that lets you choose from amongst 12 competing nations. One Day matches mode is a stripped-down version of Test cricket. 20 overs mode is a mode offering quick, rapid gameplay where you score fast as opposed to the slower Test games.

There is also a coaching mode where you can improve your fielding, bowling and batting skills. You will find the coaching mode highly useful. After completing the tutorial basics, you can partake in some bowling and batting challenges. The game features 5 commentators. Matches are challenging and quite frustrating. The game’s AI is clunky and unpredictable. Even when you pick the easiest difficulty mode, you can still get defeated easily.

There is a simulate function that allows you to skip several parts of the match allowing the game’s AI to take over. It is a 50/50 thing because sometimes, the AI performs well for you and other times it does not. If you allow the AI to take over your games, you forfeit trophies, venues and other unlocks.

Bowling is easy and the controls aren’t difficult. You simply select the direction of the pitch that you want the ball to go to and you watch the meter. You can trick the AI and multiplayer batsmen with your bowling. You can rotate players when bowling for better accuracy and results.

Batting is fun and can be controlled in various ways. But you need to time your shots right. You might bat in the right direction but the ball might not go where you want it to. The confidence of your batsman also matters in how good your batting is. Ashes Cricket 2009 places a lot of focus on batting and bowling, and not much attention is given to fielding. To field, you nominate the end the ball will be thrown to once your player has picked it up. Simple quicktime events are used for catches. It’s all very elementary. Ashes Cricket 2009 might be difficult at first. But once you get used to the game, it shines. At that point you understand the tricks needed to win games, while still getting challenged by the game’s AI.

7

Ashes Cricket 2009 makes a lot of efforts to be a great cricket game, but these efforts are marred by some glitches here and there. Hopefully, the latter Ashes Cricket games fix these issues.

Pros

  • Good coop
  • Good array of game modes
  • Good presentation and commentary
  • Easy controls

Cons

  • Too many bugs
  • Unpredictably frustrating AI

Download Ashes Cricket 2009

XBox 360

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
Wii

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
PC

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
Playstation 3

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP

Game Reviews

Ashes Cricket 2009 is one of the better cricket games. Growing up in the UK, playing cricking was something that I was exposed to from a really young age. It has always been a sport that I liked to play in real life and video games, but I find actually watching cricket boring as hell! I remember when this came out and it was a pretty big deal at the time and even to this day, it is a game that cricket fans have a lot of fondness for.

Kind Of Licensed

As the title of the game is Ashes Cricket 2009, you may think that this game is fully licensed. While it does have the MCC license (hence the Ashes in the title) it also has the ECB and Cricket Australia licenses as well. What is neat about this is that it gives us access to the proper England and Australian cricket teams. However, the rest of the game is not licensed, meaning that we have a lot of made up stuff! To be fair, you can tell who teams are supposed to be, but I am sure cricket fans wish that they went all in and secured all the licenses.

Getting It On, On The Pitch!

Cricket is a game that has been replicated in video game form many times before. I feel that even after a decade Ashes Cricket 2009 plays a damn fine game of cricket. The developer worked really hard on the bowling and batting systems in the game. What this does is make the main two parts of cricket something that pretty much anyone can pick up and play, it all feels very natural and easy to get to grips with. There is a flip side to this as it does mean that players can get really skilled at batting and bowling so there is some depth here for those who want to really learn the game. You have different game modes for both single and multiplayer so there is a decent amount to sink your teeth into here.

The Gang Is Almost All Here

For a sports game from 2009, Ashes Cricket 2009 holds up surprisingly well in the visual department. Having the likeness of those who were part of the England and Australia setups at the time is great and the characters look like who they are supposed to look like. The cricket grounds are well detailed and the whole game has a broadcast style to it that cricket fans are sure to like. I will say that animations are a bit of a mixed bag. The game gets it like 80 percent right, the actual bowling looks great, but the run ups have a kind of goofy look to them.

Batting With A Wii Remote

So far, I have been talking about Ashes Cricket 2009 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. However, I do feel that the Nintendo Wii version deserves a bit of special attention. It may look rough, but this is a fun game to play with others. It uses motion controls as you would expect and they are a bit on the janky side, but while this can be frustrating in single-player. When playing with your friends, it makes the game more fun and unpredictable and it can be a good game to have in rotation for multiplayer game nights if you want something light and fun.

8

The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions of Ashes Cricket 2009 play a damn fine game of cricket and it is easy to see why for some cricket fans, this is still their go to cricket game to this day. I am sure that it would be even more loved by cricket fans if they went all out with the licenses. The Nintendo Wii version of the game is a bit rough around the edges, but that is where its charm lies.

Pros:

  • It does have some major licenses
  • The batting and fielding feel great
  • Some of the player likenesses are good
  • The Wii version is fun in multiplayer

Cons:

  • Some may not like how the whole game is not fully licensed
  • The Wii version is fun, but rather rough around the edges

The Ashes Will have concluded by the time you read these words, so I'll guess you're either swilling down the champagne in various toasts to England's improbable victory in the fifth Test, or you're drowning your sorrows as Australia once again provoked a stunning middle order collapse from England's batsmen, and carried off the tiny urn back to the Antipodes for a few more years. If you just don't care about cricket, why are you even reading this? Go on, piss off out of it.

Now that's taken care of, the remaining lovers of willow and leather can ruminate on the following words. The next game in the much-loved Brian Lara series, Ashes Cricket 2009 is both an attempt to revive a forgotten brand and also a shameless effort to cash in on the hype surrounding the famous series. I can safely say that Ashes 2009 is the best cricket game money can buy, but I could equally say that there are a number of issues that still remain from the previous game (Brian Lara International Cricket 2007).

Googlies Galore

Some things have definitely been tidied up and it's now a more accessible game than before. Tutorials are provided by Sir Ian Botham and Shane Warne through the Legends training mode, where you go through a series of challenges from basic batting and bowling to advanced techniques and strategies. By the time you get about halfway through these, you'll be itching to just get on with a proper game.

When its time to get started you'll find the usual raft of limited overs matches and full-on five-day Tests are available, as well as the Ashes itself. Graphics and presentation veer between good and drab, with the crowd looking rather sloppy, which is a shame. The gameplay is an improvement, with a more realistic feel to the batting, bowling and fielding. However, the AI still has a tendency to run itself out stupidly far too often and the continued lack of proper edges behind the wicket mean having a large number of slips is often completely pointless. We can appreciate it would be difficult to get thin edges simulated accurately, but without them, well, the game just isn't cricket. Nevertheless, Ashes Cricket 2009 is a decent game of cricket, marred by some classic issues. If you'd sorted out the persistent problem with the edges and runouts, you'd have got a much higher score, Codies.

Snapshots and Media

XBox 360 Screenshots

Wii Screenshots

PC Screenshots

Playstation 3 Screenshots

See Also

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